"Serving West and East Village, Chelsea, SoHo, NoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown and the Lower East Side"

Volume 77, Number 14 September 05 -11, 2007

Editorial/Op-EdIndependent review needed at DeutscheThe most heartbreaking thing about the loss of firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino in the Aug. 18 fire at the former Deutsche Bank building was that government did not pay enough attention to the repeated, unmistakable signs that peoples lives were at risk.

Talking PointWashington Squares radical redesign was in 69By Gil Horowitz
I am a member of the Washington Square Park Task Force and strongly support the Quinn-Gerson agreement as a way to resolve major differences among community preferences regarding Washington Square Park. I was, formany years, treasurer of Friends of Washington Square Park, an arm of the Washington Square Association, was an appointed member of Community Board 2 and on its Parks Committee during the 1980s and 90s, and am currentlypresident of the Washington Square-Lower Fifth Avenue Bock Association, which represents many thousands of residents, mainly co-op owners, aroundWashington Square and on Lower Fifth Avenue.

ObituaryRobert G. Payton, 78, professor of mathBy Albert Amateau
Robert G. Payton, professor emeritus of mathematics at Adelphi University and a Village resident for 40 years, died Aug. 15 at the age of 78.

Sports

Swimmers lap up the end of the outdoor pool seasonBy Jefferson Siegel
As the sun rises each day in the summer, while a good portion of city dwellers either bolt for work or sleep late, there is a contingent of dedicated swimmers who head straight for more than a dozen outdoor city pools to participate in lap swimming.

Left on the shuttered gate of CBGB after Hilly Kristal’s death last week, a photo of him outside the club once again with its famous canopy and a farewell note.

Hilly Kristal, 75, ‘father of punk’ whose club rocked music worldBy Sarah Ferguson
The Lower East Side lost another icon last week. Hilly Kristal, founderof CBGB, the legendary dive bar on the Bowery that gave birth to punk in the 1970s, died on Aug. 28 at Cabrini Hospital after a yearlong battle with lung cancer. He was 75.

State’s first lady is charged up about energy planBy Jefferson Siegel
New York State’s first lady, Silda Wall Spitzer, joined George Campbell Jr., president of The Cooper Union, and other officials on Aug. 28 to announce a statewide initiative to reduce energy consumption and fight climate change.

With new funds, small is beautiful, schools agreeBy Chris Lombardi
On the Tuesday before classes began, Bayard Rustin High School was a quiet mob scene, with parents clustered in one line, their wan freshmen in tow. Then, in small groups, they showed up at the principal’s office, bearing folders full of documents. A young Chinese woman translated for her mom, as the administrator told the mother that her daughter was enrolled.

LREI celebrates 75 years of progressive educationThe 2007 school year marks the 75th anniversary of the Little Red School House’s being located at Bleecker St. and Sixth Ave. On Mon., Sept. 10, LREI will commemorate the occasion with a morning of special events.

Health to hand-held P.D.A.s Prep students getting supportBy Margarita Lopez
Lower East Side Prep students will return to high school on Sept. 4 with an array of educational options that go beyond the classroom  including technology and mentoring initiatives and a new program that will educate students about health issues and proper nutrition.

Prop man helps L.E.S. photog get his propsBy Gerry Visco
It was a typical night over at Billys Antiques & Props on E. Houston St. hard by the Bowery. Youve seen the place  arrayed on the sidewalk in front of the old green tent, a collection of stylish vintage bureaus, funky coffee tables and kitschy objets dart for sale by offbeat characters.

Readings put a new spin on literature and laundryBy Audrey Tempelsman
Over the centuries, writers have met their muses in the most unlikely places: Marcel Proust discovered his in a buttery madeleine; Virginia Woolf, in her dog Pinka. And, since starting Dirty Laundry: Loads of Prose/Fully Loaded in 2005, East Village writer Emily Rubin has found her muse in laundromats.

Lab is a lucky dog, survives electric shock in SohoBy Tequila Minsky
Soho resident Jon Doran was going out for his morning cup of joe Wednesday and walking up Thompson St. with his yellow lab, Socha. They were forced to take a slight detour since the film crew of the Biography Channel had commandeered the sidewalks adjacent to the handball courts at Spring and Thompson Sts. while shooting promos.

VILLAGER ART & LIFESTYLEAfter two years of silence, Howl! returnsBy Rachel Breitman
This week the Howl! festival returns from a two-year hiatus to tip its hat to what’s left of the East Village’s risqué street life and club scene.

The Howl! calendar at a glanceWhether a film fanatic, aspiring poet, lounge lyricist or comic book junkie, the HOWL! Festival feeds downtowners’ fancies with five days of panels, concerts, exhibits, and variety shows at nearly 40 venues:

Koch on FilmEd KochSuperbad (-) This is one of the funnier movies I have seen over the years. There is no nudity or sexually explicit scenes, but because of the theme of the film and the obscene language that is constantly used, it is one of the most vulgar films I have ever seen.

Child actors learn the show must go onBy Adrienne Urbanski
Last month, child actors Lily Maketansky, 10, and Simon Garratt, 9, got their first real taste of show business during a technical dress rehearsal of the Public Theatres A Midsummers Night Dream, in which both were cast as fairies.

A soldiers tale, in photosBy Nicole Davis
If you havent seen photographer Nina Bermans arresting portraits of soldiers who were severely wounded in the Iraq War, her show, Purple Hearts, was extended through Sept. 8 at the Jen Bekman Gallery in Nolita. The Villager emailed with Berman to find out how these men let her capture them so intimately.